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What is your Stage? What is your Platform?

Yes indeed, Shakespeare, all the world is a stage, and i guess we’re on it right now! Every moment is an opportunity to embrace our presence on the cosmic stage and to perform at our very best.

Alas, as far as playing the human game goes, throughout life we develop particular sets of skills that prepare us to shine authoritatively on a particular stage. What is yours?

It seems like we begin to actualize our abilities when our stage is in front of many people. Literal actors and performers, as well as athletes, demonstrate high levels of discipline and organization in their lives, because without the discipline and order, they wouldn’t succeed like they do. Some people are on stages where they entertain thousands of people on a weekly basis, or perhaps, like an Olympian, they are investing thousands of hours behind the scenes for the big show that might be 4 years away. There are all kinds of stages to perform on, and the stage for us is the one that demands the very best of us.

We are each responsible to identify our stage that moves us to making the best decisions we know and living with as much wisdom as we have. Personally, in Cincinnati currently, staying with the parents, i’m fairly certain this isn’t the stage for me in the long-term, partially because motivation hasn’t been as high as other places and i also haven’t been living in as much wisdom as i know 🙂 At the ashram, i find myself drawn to a higher standard of being and abide with greater love, presence, and appreciation. For some reason it just seems easy to take things for granted around the childhood stomping grounds…who knows! Either way, when we identify moments in our lives when we were performing at our best, and really make good decisions, that’s how we know the direction to move in. That’s how you can identify how you can live with the greatest joy while on earth. Some of my greatest joys have come from being in front of people and either teaching meditation, talking about cultivating virtue, and talking about Peace and the awesomeness of the Present Moment. Then, also great joy has been had with full presence eating a single slice of orange. So, good news is there’s a balance between joy externally engaging in the world and internally realizing Higher Truth. Words only go so far.

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The great thing about being on stage is the accountability. On the stage, you are leading in one way or another. Perhaps you are leading by telling stories or singing a song or teaching economics. Either way, you’re on the stage and eyes are on you. You have the authority. At the same time, your audience holds you accountable to perform. In many ways, the presence of the audience can lift us all up. They draw out the best in us. Sometimes the sensation is butterflies in the stomach, at which point it’s good to re-connect with the pure purpose and desire to serve and give as best as you can to your audience, and then any anxiety slowly but surely transforms into confidence.

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One of the keys to the spiritual journey is the awareness that we’re always on stage. That, in fact, the entire universe is watching. Nothing is hidden, even if it looks like no one is watching. Closing a door doesn’t close Reality out of experiencing our experiencing and witnessing whatever happens. (Ha, as i’m writing this i’m hearing a fly buzzing around…and now it lands on the wall! God is always just a fly on the wall…)

Living from a place of Cosmic Accountability is much like being aware that God is Presence, and Presence is always, including Here and Now! So this is one of the most awesome ways to live, because you’re always on the stage, the grandest of all stages, so you are always being lifted up to perform at your very best.

Whether or not you ‘believe’ in Cosmic Accountability and the ever-present consciousness/universe/Reality, you can also appreciate the simple truth that everything adds up. It all counts. If you eat an apple, that apple impacts how you experience the world, and ultimately that apple transforms you and itself into something else entirely. We’re in the midst of a transformative experience, and what our bodies do with food is just one example of incredible transformations that happen all the time. It all adds up, and whatever you want to excel at, practicing right here and right now will pay dividends. For better posture, begin now! Benefits are cumulative. So let’s start benefiting right…now! 🙂

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Alrighty then…

to summarize

Find the stage and audience that lift you up to the highest level of performance. What stage and audience would motivate you to make the very best decisions you know to make? To eat only the healthiest foods in the right amount? To exercise daily? To pray regularly? To unconditionally love people? To treat all with kindness? To give more abundantly? To prepare thoroughly? To study books in your field? To develop new skills? To wake up early and plan your day? To dream abundantly and envision a more wonderful future?

And remember…on some level…you are completely on the Ultimate Stage, Right Here, Right Now. And the greatest audience of all is watching, thoroughly enjoying…so maybe you ‘should’ too 😉